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Nagasaki: Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became a center of Portuguese and Dutch influence in the 16th through 19th centuries, and the Churches and Christian Sites in Nagasaki have been proposed for inscription

Hiroshima: Hiroshima is the principal city of the Chugoku Region and home to over a million inhabitants and the largest city in the Chugoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The city’s name, means “Broad Island” in Japanese. When the first atom

Kobe: Kobe is the capital of Hyogo Prefecture and is the sixth-largest city in Japan. Kobe has been an important port city for many centuries. Its port was among the first to be opened to foreign trade in the 19th century alongside the ports of Yokohama, Nagasaki, Hakodate and Niiga

KamaKura: If at all possible, visit Kamakura between Monday and Friday. Weekends are extremely crowded and the waiting time to enter any sightseeing spot, including temples, is likely to be extremely long.”Kamakura is a small town in Kanagawa Prefecture less than an hour from To

Shirakawa-Go And Gokayama: The Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama are one of Japan’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The site is located in the Shogawa river valley stretching across the border of Gifu and Toyama Prefectures in central Japan. The Gokayama area is divid

Kaze No Bon: Kaze no Bon is a Japanese festival held every year from September 1 to 3. Kaze-no-Bon literally translates to “Bon Dance of the Wind.” This is a traditional folk event to appease the wind and pray for a bountiful crop, and is held every year for three days. I

Toyama: Toyama is a prefecture along the Sea of Japan coast in the the Chubu Region. Prefectural capital is Toyama City. Toyama is the leading industrial prefecture on the Japan Sea coast, and has the industrial advantage of cheap electricity from abundant hydroelectric resources. It

Gion Matsuri: The Gion Matsuri, familiarly known as ‘Gion-san,’ is a festival of Yasaka-jinja Shrine, and the highlight is the splendid pageant of some 20 and 10 floats called yamaboko proceeding along the main streets of Kyoto on the 17th and 24th. The streets are lined w

Mount Koya: Mount Koya is the name of mountains in Wakayama Prefecture to the south of Osaka. Also, Kōya-san is a modifying word for Kongobu-ji . There is no mountain officially called Koya-san in Japan. Mount Koya is the center of Shingon Buddhism, an important Buddhist sect which w

Bunraku: Bunraku is the traditional puppet theater of Japan, with a high-level stage art. Originally, the term Bunraku referred only to the particular theater established in 1805 in Osaka, which was named the Bunrakuza after the puppeteering ensemble of Uemura Bunrakuken (1751-1810),